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March 2015

Trinity TopicsH O L Y T R I N I T Y L U T H E R A N C H U R C H

www.sancarloshtlc.org

Keeping a Holy Lent

We have entered the season of Lent. The church’s colors have changed from the white of Transfiguration Sunday to the purple of Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday. We began Lent remembering who we are: fragile, mortal, beloved children of God. We were marked with the cross of ash with these words: “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

Reactions…? What?! I’m dust? I’m ALIVE! I’m real! Yes, and you are dust! You are mortal. This isn’t meant to set you off or scare anyone. It is simply a reminder that we are broken beings. Not perfect. Mortal indeed. Creatures of our heavenly Maker, created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27)… and as such we are loved!

For me, when I remember I’m dust, I’m reminded that yes, I am ALIVE! I’m real. I have the gift of life and I’m going to live it! Remembering my own dusty-ness connects me with Jesus and

his dusty-ness. Jesus was real and alive when he walked on earth. Jesus is right now inspiring us and breathing new life into us through his own real life. This Lenten season, allow Jesus’ breath to breathe in you. Breathe in NEW life, real-ness, alive-ness, dusty-ness. Let Jesus touch you, heal you, and transform you.

I’ve been thinking about the traditional spiritual disciplines: Almsgiving, fasting, prayer. In this Lenten spirit we are offering again Midweek Services in rotation with our friends at Messiah in Redwood City. Our Lenten journey together this year will take on a little different theme: “Baskets of Promise—Signs of Hope” (see page 2).

Each year an average U.S. family of four wastes an estimated $1,484 in food. In our slowly growing economy, that’s not a small amount. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food thrown away by consumers, restaurants, grocery stores and others is the largest single component of landfills. Wasting food shows disregard for the farmer who grew the food, those who had a role in bringing it to the table, and to our God whose creation offers us food in abundance. In a world where many of our neighbors are hungry, wasted food embodies an indifference to their suffering. How should we view a food system that allows millions of tons of food to rot in landfills while billions go hungry? In keeping up with the call to give alms to the poor and to do works of love, we are invited to give back in different ways. At Messiah, people are invited to donate toward the Lutheran World Relief “Hygiene Kits”. At Holy Trinity we will collect food so that children in our county will have enough nutritious food.

Lent and its focus on spiritual discipline is a good time to ponder the role of food in our lives and to try some new, more sustainable practices. May you grow in faith, may you know that you are loved by God, and may you reach out with heart and hand to those go hungry while we journey with Christ towards the cross—a symbol both of mortality and abundant life!

Lenten Blessings to all,

Sunday, March 8

Daylight Savings Begins

Remember to set clocks forward 1 hour on Saturday, March 7th

Purple Reign by Stushie

H O L Y T R I N I T Y H A P P E N I N G S

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Adult Forums in March

Sundays mornings | 9:00 am

Conference Room

“Journeys in Faith”Lent has historically been a season of “faith formation”

in which women, men, and children prepared for the sacrament of Holy Baptism. Let us join in this tradition

of inquiry on Sunday mornings to discuss matters that relate to our faith in an interactive format.

March 1 | “Religion: Spirituality Is Not Enough”

March 8 | “Jesus: The Revolution of Love”

March 15 | “Cross: Where God Is”

March 22 | “Church: An Imperfect Family”

All are welcome!

MIDWEEK LENTEN SERVICESWednesday Nights| 6:45 p.m.

“Baskets of Promise — Signs of Hope”

March 4 Holy Trinity

March 11 Messiah Lutheran

March 18 Holy Trinity

March 25 Messiah Lutheran

A simple soup supper precedes each Midweek Service at 6:00 pm

HOLY WEEK

Palm Sunday, March 2910:15 a.m.

Holy Communion with the Procession of Palms

Maundy Thursday, April 27:00 p.m.

Agape Service with Last Supper

Good Friday, April 37:00 p.m.

Service of Light & Darkness

with Adoration of the Cross

Celebrate Lent, Holy Week and Easter at Holy Trinity

EASTER SUNDAY, April 5The Resurrection of Our Lord

9:00 a.m. Easter Breakfast (Youth Fundraiser)

9:30 a.m. Easter Egg Hunt for all Children

10:15 a.m. Festive Holy Communion Service with Children's Time

Monday, April 6th

The church office is closed in

observance of Easter Monday.

Join Our Usher Team!

Ushering is a wonderful way to meet people at Holy Trinity and the usher team would love to have some new women and men to join. Participation is about once a month, except for special services during Christmas,

Lent, and Easter. On-the-job training provided!

Contact Dave Pitts at sv11146@sbcglobal.net for more information or speak to Pr. Christian.

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H O L Y T R I N I T Y L I F E

Building an Inclusive Church at Holy Trinity

You may be familiar with the term "Reconciling in Christ" or RIC as applied to some Lutheran congregations. In short, ReconcilingWorks is the Lutheran welcoming church program which helps congregations grow to intentionally welcome people of all races, gender identities and sexual orientations. Such congregations are known as "RIC congregations".

Nationally, a coalition of faith-based organizations, including ReconcilingWorks, is sponsoring seven workshops this Spring to help congregations become intentionally inclusive. Two of those workshops are in California, and one is right here at Holy Trinity on Saturday, March 14.

Council has expressed its continued interest in pursuing more specific information about the RIC process, and now the "up close and personal" opportunity to gather that information is on our own doorstep. It doesn't get much easier than that!

This Building an Inclusive Church workshop provides information, answers questions, defines process options and much more. A Holy Trinity team of at least three members who have an interest/passion in "widening our welcome" will attend this workshop. If you are interested or want more information, please talk either with Lori Friedman, Bob Beuthel or Pastor as soon as possible.

Stewardship and Spring Forth! Updates

68% of giving units have tithed

$150,084.00. “Spring Forth!” pledges total $409,080.00 to date, with $254,019.20 received.

Pledge Cards may be found in the pews or online at

www.sancarloshtlc.org/resources for those who haven't yet turned one in.

For more information on this year’s Stewardship Campaign, please contact Rick Gilmore at usgilmores@comcast.net or Financial

Secretary, Mary Webb at mkwatclubwebb@aol.com.

MARCH BIRTHDAYSA birthday is God’s reminder

to enjoy life. May your birthday be a day of celebration!

3/2 Elisa Baker3/3 Andrea Reiser

Gary Steen3/7 Laura Jane Young3/8 Anita Reimann3/10 Peter Schmuckal3/11 John Kuehner, Sr.3/13 Lisa Telfer Jack Wiessinger Maddie Wiessinger3/18 Gaby Knauth3/21 Alyssa Fox3/25 Ben Ledwith Grace Ledwith3/28 Steve Webb

ANNIVERSARY WISHES!God bless you as you celebrate

your years together!

Richard & Ann Wunderlich 3/11/1972 (43 years)

Hubert & Maria Rodenberg 3/14/1953 (62 years)

Len & Erin Fischer 3/17/2004 (11 years)

John & Karen Schornstein3/21/1992 (23 years)

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H O L Y T R I N I T Y Y O U T H

Youth Sports and Church on Sunday Morning: What Gives? By Peter Meier

“Uh oh, we have a problem,” my wife said, showing me an email that had just arrived from the coach of our son’s new Little League baseball team. The email was well-written and to-the-point. It outlined the coach’s plans and aspirations for our son’s team in the coming season, the responsibilities of the parents, and the fact that practices would occur twice a week. One of those practices would begin each Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m.

Yes, that practice time was a problem. We do our best to attend services at Holy Trinity every Sunday at 10:15 a.m. We ran through the options. Would our son (and perhaps our whole family) miss every church service during baseball season? Would he need to join another team that didn’t practice on Sunday mornings, so that we could attend church as a family? It didn’t seem right that we would suddenly need to choose between youth sports and attending church. We’ve heard about the all-weekend volleyball tournaments that some parents attend, and the AYSO soccer games that have taken over Sundays in many communities. But our son is only in first grade, and it’s not as though we’re envisioning an athletic scholarship to college, or major league baseball contracts in his future (he does have my genes, after all). We just wanted him to be able to play a sport he really seems to enjoy.

We were facing a common dilemma on the Peninsula these days. Like many parents, we have encouraged our children to participate in youth sports, in addition to extra-curricular activities like dance, piano lessons, and Spanish classes. Although we may be prone to “overscheduling” our children and ourselves, we have managed to keep the sports and activities from encroaching on Sunday morning. Doing so seems normal to us. After all, when we were growing up, youth sports had a far weaker gravitational pull on children and parents. In those days, games and practices were scheduled without encroaching on Sundays, which was considered to be “family time,” even though not all families (of course) attended church on Sunday.

I ran a Google search to try to find out how other communities have responded to this dilemma. The trend of scheduling youth sports on Sundays struck a nerve in communities in northern New Jersey several years ago. In an article published in the Newark Star-Ledger, one mother commented on how hard it was to choose between attending church and bringing her son to baseball games scheduled on Sunday. “In those cases where we went to the game, you feel guilty,” she said. “But he’s my one and only, and he lives for baseball.” She wondered whether she was giving her son a conflicting message: church is important, except when it conflicts with baseball.

The pastor at a Presbyterian church in Hanover, New Jersey was quoted as saying that: “The anxiety of ‘Do I go to church or do I take my kid to the soccer game?’ is a weekly ordeal” for members of his congregation. He recalled that when he grew up playing Little League in the 1950s, games were not held on Sundays. He wondered about the impact on families when youth sports crowd out family time on Sundays. “We’re not against sports. We’re really in favor of trying to provide a time of rest for this culture,” he said.

Our dilemma was eased – if not resolved – by an email back to the coach. I told the coach in my email that attending church on Sunday morning is important to our family, and suggested that because the coach already had set the practice schedule for the season, perhaps our son should play for a different team. The response back was swift: the coach would move the practice to Noon on Sunday, and after his work schedule changed in a few weeks, it would be moved to Thursday afternoons.

On the first Sunday of baseball season we attended services at Holy Trinity, and then made the trek to the baseball practice field, where our son was dressed, fed, and ready to play baseball at Noon. We managed to make time for both church and baseball, at least on this day. We knew, however, that this one accommodation by our reasonable coach – who just needed to hear from us that church is important – didn’t mean we would be insulated from the same pressures in the future. I wondered how other families are handling these pressures, and balancing their priorities.

I hope that we and other members of our church, as well as people from other religious traditions (including those that worship on Fridays evenings or Saturday mornings) will find a way to speak up for their traditions and our traditions, and to help us to consider what should be at the center of our lives. Save the Date! August 3-7

Summer Day Camp @ Holy Trinity

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H O L Y T R I N I T Y F A C I L I T I E SH O L Y T R I N I T Y F A C I L I T I E S

Facilities Update

SAVE THE DATE

Spring Sparkle Returns!

Saturday, March 28

9:00 am – 12 noon

Now that many Facilities Audit projects have been completed, it’s time to adopt our “ongoing

maintenance” mode. ALL ages are invited to participate as we prepare our campus for Palm Sunday and Easter. Window washing, general cleaning, gardening, touch-up painting and

more . . . there’s something for everyone! All materials and morning snacks will be provided so come when you can, leave when you must.

Many hands make for light work and great fellowship

–– God’s work, Our hands!

!

Storm Damage

During the early February storm the parsonage gutter fell and was replaced using ongoing maintenance funds.

New Toilets

As part of overall maintenance, Leroy Padilla and Bob Beuthel replaced leaking inefficient/high water using toilets with ecologically sound water-saving toilets in the downstairs bathrooms and the vestry.

Painting complete

Painting the downstairs classrooms, hallway, Beilstein

Hall bathrooms, side classroom and chapel/

meeting room has been completed. Bulletin boards

and white boards have replaced chalkboards and

picture wires were installed for displaying children’s work.

Manzanita Roof (above)

Since the roof tiles are asbestos, an asbestos abatement company removed the hazardous tiles prior to the roofer installing the new roof. The new roof should last for many years.

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H O L Y T R I N I T Y E V E N T S

Lydia Circle (of WELCA)

Tuesday, March 17 | Beilstein Hall | NoonWe are continuing our Bible Study, "Transforming Life and Faith" by Carol Schersten LaHurd. Please bring your Bible, the March issue of Gather magazine and a light lunch. The title of this month's study, Session 7, is "Suffering and Endurance". We will be using sections of the Book of Job as the center of our study. All women are most welcome! Please remember: Box Tops for Education and Campbell product bar codes to benefit Rock Point Navajo School in AZ.

& Book StudySaturday, March 14

8 - 9:30 am Conference Room

We are reading the book "God is Closer Than You Think" written by John Ortberg.

“Our Neighbor’s Faith”—Confirmation Field Trips in Lent

There will be no Wednesday confirmation classes throughout the Lenten season. The next regular

confirmation class will meet again on Wednesday, April 15 at 6:30 pm. All times TBD.

Sunday, March 1: Glide Memorial Church SF

Sunday, March 15 or 22: Islamic Center Burlingame

Sunday, March 29: Buddhist Temple of San Mateo

Jr. & Sr. High Youth Extravaganza

Sunday, March 15th | 5:30-7:30Immanuel Lutheran

Come enjoy the Jr. & Sr. High Youth Extravaganza! There will be a BBQ with hamburgers & hot dogs, plus other great snacks. This will be a fun evening full of games, food, laughter and friendship, and we

will finish with a devotion and have information on all of the fun Summer events coming up.

Thursday, March 5 | Senior Trip Bolinas with Lunch at the Pelican Inn in Muir Beach

The seaside town of Bolinas is separated from the North American continent by the wildlife rich Bolinas Lagoon and the San Andreas fault line. Bolinas is actually not part of the American continent as it’s located on the Pacific plate with only one road in, it’s not quite an island, but has that quaint island community sensibility.

Sign up in the breezeway or call the office to reserve your spot.

Departure from HTLC lot: 10:30 am (we will use cars), Return: 4:00 pm

Lunch: $12 - 20 (+ tip & tax)

Luther Lecture at PLTS: Dr. George Tinker | Wednesday, March 18 | 9:00 am

The 2015 Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary Luther Lecture will be on, featuring Dr. George Tinker, a PLTS graduate and professor at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. He will speak on the topic "Indians, Lutherans, and Decolonizing Creation: Postcolonial Salvation". How does Euro-Christian theology supplant a Native holistic understanding of the world? Can individualized salvation and concern for ecology and creation be part of the same worldview?

Please contact Pr. Christian if you wish to attend the lecture and carpool to Berkeley. Registration for the lecture and a lunch following is $20.

All men welcome!

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M A R C H C A L E N D A R S

Worship Leaders

If a conflict prevents you from serving as scheduled, arrange a trade and/or substitute and notify the office at 650.593.0325 or office@sancarloshtlc.org

3/1 3/8

Youth 3/15 3/22

3/29

Palm

Sunday

Assisting

Minister

Gary

Wiessinger Zoe Reimann Erik Vorhes

Randy

Friedman

Pamela

Bohlmann

Lector Laura Jane

Young Youth Lisa Kersten

Barbara

Padilla

Doug

Southard

Acolyte Cameron

Martin

Eva

Schmuckal Zora Vorhes

Mackenzie

Friedman

Lori

Friedman

Sound

System

Operator

Leroy Padilla Greg

Bohlmann Bob Young

Gary

Wiessinger

John

Schornstein

Altar

Guild

Vivian

Southard

Barbara

Richards

Karen

Schornstein

Pamela

Bohlmann

Vivian

Southard

Greeter(s) Peter Meier Cathy

Bready

Andrea

Reiser

Lynn Garbe-

Recknagel

Julianne

Fredericks

Ushers

Dave Pitts

Richard

Wunderlich

Leroy Padilla

Greg

Bohlmann

John

Schornstein

Dick Rescho TBD

Nursery

Assistant

Parent to

Stay

Parent to

Stay Zoe Reimann

Zoe

Reimann

Parent to

Stay

Coffee

Host Reimann Knauth Fischer

Julianne

Fredericks Kersten

Counters Mary Webb

Andrea

Reiser

Leroy Padilla

Mary Webb

Greg

Bohlmann

Chris Kidwell

Lisa Telfer

Lisa Kersten

Mary Webb,

TBD

Sunday

School

Lori,

Michelle,

Anna, Gaby

Lisa

Gaby, Anita,

Peter,

Heather

Lisa, Hillary,

Zoe, Gail

Gaby,

Michelle,

Heather,

Anna

MARCH 2015

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1Confirmation Field Trip9:00 AM Adult Forum10:15 AM Worship Service11:15 AM Coffee andFellowship11:30 AM Choir Practice5:00 PM AA Meeting--ConfRoom

26:00 PMJazzercise

37:00 PM AAMeeting--BeilsteinHall

410:00 AM StaffMeeting6:45 PM MidweekLenten Service7:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom

510:30 AM SeniorTrip6:00 PM Jazzercise

6SPS YouthElementaryRetreat7:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom7:30 PM RussianGospel Temple-Beilstein Hall

7SPS YouthElementaryRetreat5:00 PM AA Mtg(women's group)--Conf Room

8SPS Youth ElementaryRetreat9:00 AM Adult Forum10:15 AM Worship Service11:15 AM Coffee andFellowship11:30 AM Choir Practice5:00 PM AA Meeting--ConfRoom

96:00 PMJazzercise

107:00 PM AAMeeting--BeilsteinHall

1110:00 AM StaffMeeting6:45 PM MidweekLenten Service7:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom

126:00 PM Jazzercise

137:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom7:30 PM RussianGospel Temple-Beilstein Hall

148:00 AM InclusiveChruch Training8:00 AM Men'sBreakfast - ConfRoom!5:00 PM AA Mtg(women's group)--Conf Room

15Confirmation Field Trip9:00 AM Adult Forum10:15 AM Worship Service11:15 AM Coffee andFellowship11:30 AM Choir Practice5:00 PM AA Meeting--ConfRoom5:30 PM Jr. & Sr. HighSchool Extravaganza

166:00 PMJazzercise

1712:00 PM LydiaCircle7:00 PM AAMeeting--BeilsteinHall

189:00 AM LutherLecture at PLTS10:00 AM StaffMeeting6:45 PM MidweekLenten Service7:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom

196:00 PM Jazzercise

207:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom7:30 PM RussianGospel Temple-Beilstein Hall

215:00 PM AA Mtg(women's group)--Conf Room

229:00 AM Adult Forum10:15 AM Worship Service11:15 AM Coffee andFellowship11:30 AM Choir Practice5:00 PM AA Meeting--ConfRoom

236:00 PMJazzercise

247:00 PM AAMeeting--BeilsteinHall7:00 PM CouncilMeeting

2510:00 AM StaffMeeting6:45 PM MidweekLenten Service7:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom

266:00 PM Jazzercise

277:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom7:30 PM RussianGospel Temple-Beilstein Hall

289:00 AM SpringSparkle5:00 PM AA Mtg(women's group)--Conf Room

29Confirmation Field Trip9:00 AM Adult Forum10:15 AM Worship Service11:15 AM Coffee andFellowship11:30 AM Choir Practice5:00 PM AA Meeting--ConfRoom

306:00 PMJazzercise

317:00 AM OceanGrove CharterSchool ?7:00 PM AAMeeting--BeilsteinHall

17:00 AM OceanGrove CharterSchool ?10:00 AM StaffMeeting7:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom

2MAUNDYTHURSDAY7:00 AM OceanGrove CharterSchool ?6:00 PM Jazzercise

3GOOD FRIDAY7:00 AM OceanGrove CharterSchool ?7:00 PM AAMeeting--ConfRoom7:30 PM RussianGospel Temple-Beilstein Hall

43:00 PM EasterBreakfast Setup -Belstein Hall5:00 PM AA Mtg(women's group)--Conf Room

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Holy Trinity Lutheran Church149 Manzanita AvenueSan Carlos, CA 94070www.sancarloshtlc.orgPhone: 650.593.0325office@sancarloshtlc.orgSunday Worship 10:15 am

Want to go green? Please contact Holy Trinity (office@sancarloshtlc.org) to replace your printed copy with an electronic copy of our newsletter.

CHURCH STAFF......................................... ............................................Pastor The Rev. Christian Jennert Office Administrator Monica Cryan

jennert@sancarloshtlc.org cryan@sancarloshtlc.org....... ................................................................Dir, Child & Family Ministries The Rev. Erica Schemper Nursery Care Jo O’Brien

schemper@sancarloshtlc.org obrien@sancarloshtlc.org...................................Organist/Pianist Shirley Zimmerman

zimmerman@sancarloshtlc.org

2015 COUNCIL OFFICERS & MINISTRY TEAM CHAIRS................................................... ..........................................................President Dr. Lori Friedman Worship & Music Erik Vorhes

friedman@sancarloshtlc.org ...................................Evangelism & Outreach Gary Wiessinger........................ .............................................................Vice President …………..Dr. Anita Reimann Stewardship Rick Gilmore

........................................................... ...............Secretary Bob Beuthel Social Concerns Barbara Padilla & Hillary Wiessinger.............. .......................................................................Buildings & Grounds Bob Beuthel & Leroy Padilla Youth Lori Friedman

............................................. ..................................................Congregation Life Peter Meier Financial Secretary Mary Webb................... ................................................................Endowment. Cathy Bready & John McDowell Treasurer Petra Gilmore

..........................Education/Sunday School Anita Reimann treasurer@sancarloshtlc.org